Greg Hottinger - Coach Yourself Thin: Five Steps to Retrain Your Mind, Reclaim Your Power, and Lose the Weight for Good

To Ali, Orijah, Jezai, and baby on the way.Greg

To Tricia, Elizabeth, and Jason.Michael

PART 4

You may be wondering why youre even bothering with another weight-loss book. Youve probably tried a number of the plans out there and are thinking skeptically to yourself, What miracle are these guys offering up thats so different?

We hear you loud and clear. We know youre frustrated with the promises in magazines, diet books, and on television; we know youre completely turned off by the guarantees made by exercise programs promising you a lean, hard body with no real work required. Finally, we understand that youre disappointed in yourself for not being able to lose weight and keep it off. But trust us when we say that the book you are holding in your hands is different. Coach Yourself Thin is not an extreme or fad diet, nor is it an intimidating, one-way-or-the-highway fitness plan. It is a guide that will help you identify the real-life obstacles that have been holding you back from losing weight; shift your thinking in ways that will remove those obstacles; and set personal goals that will lead to a healthy lifea life you may have given up hope of ever achieving.

We have worked with the overweight adult population for a combined 35 years, including 15 years at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center at Duke University. In 2001, we founded Novo Wellness (www.novowellness.com), a coaching and consulting practice; our goal at Novo is to help people achieve sustainable weight loss.

During our careers, we have seen failed weight-loss efforts more times than we can count. Weve heard dieters complain of jumping from one plan to anotherwhich usually ends up being just the same old diet and exercise rules in a new packagealways with the hope of achieving better results. Though they may experience some level of success, its usually short-term. Somehow, again and again, the pounds creep (or leap) back on.

When it comes to your own troubles with weight loss, you can probably cite a specific reason or a triggering event that has knocked you off track in the past. It may have been an illness or injury, or a vacation, move, or increased work stress. Faced with one of these, you fell off your diet and, with no recovery plan in place, you relapsed into old, unhealthy habits and patterns.

But what about individuals who are able to maintain healthy weights and healthy habits despite the curveballs life throws at them? Along with observing the more unfortunate weight-loss stories, we have also watched people get off the dieting roller coaster and move on to make beneficial changes to their lifestyles. Their victories make it clear that lasting weight loss is possible.

We argue that your overall thinking, not a specific triggering event, is the reason you havent been able to lose weight and keep it off in the past. We have observed that our most successful clients use a similar set of behavioral skills and strategies that empower them to make consistently healthy choices. We want to share these important and powerful tools with you so you can shift your thinking and make your next weight-loss effort your last.

In Part 1: How Did It Come to This? we take a look back at what has caused our current obesity epidemic and how most weight-loss plans perpetuate a way of thinking called the Quick Fix Mindset. This is precisely the kind of thinking that sabotages your efforts to lose weight. We also introduce the concept of coaching and discuss how the right balance of accountability and encouragement will help you overcome the obstacles that have held you back until now.

In Part 2: The Seven Undermining Obstacles to Weight Loss, youll learn about the powerful thinking traps that lead people to give up on their diets, exercise plans, and themselves.

When your thinking patterns are stuck, a triggering event can easily become your excuse to quit. But this time, youre going to be prepared. Youre going to learn exactly which of the undermining obstacles are stopping you and then embark on a journey to overcome them.

In Part 3: The Five Stepping-Stones to Change, youll learn the keys to overcoming any obstacle you face. Each of the five Stepping-Stones describes a powerful way of thinking that is crucial to your long-term success. While the paradigms are based on common sense, unlearning old mindsets and allowing yourself to experience these major shifts in your thinking takes some hard work.

To help you ease into changing the way you think, we have included A-Ha Exercises at the end of each Stepping-Stone. These are designed to help you get the feel of your new mindset and begin to experience the empowerment that comes with changing your perspective.

As you go through this process of change, youll learn that its not your diet plan thats the problem. The difference between failing and succeeding is in learning that its actually your relationship with the plan that is getting in the way.

For this reason, in Part 4: Healthy Eating Guidelines, and Part 5: Healthy Exercise Guidelines, we introduce you to the basics of what it means to eat healthfully and to be active and fit. We outline the balanced approaches to eating and exercise that we believe to be the most effective and sustainable ways to reach your goals. These basics are all that you need to get on track and see dramatic changes in your health and weight-no crazy diet or gimmicks necessary.

In Part 4, youll find a specific calorie structure and corresponding meal and snack suggestions that are based on your age, height, weight, and activity level. You are encouraged to use it to help you get on the right track as you develop the lifestyle eating pattern that will work for you in the years to come. Instead of a one size fits all routine, our Healthy Exercise Guidelines section describes what to look for in a good exercise plan and how to put together a plan that works for you. We introduce you to the fundamental components of exercisedaily activity, cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and rejuvenation.

Part 6 is called Discovering Your Positive Inner Coach. Wellness coaching is a growing field of health care in which coaches help people reclaim control of their lives by empowering them to make their own choices. Well teach you how to be your own coach by using the same tools we use to help our own clients stay on track. The first section is The Coachs Mental Toolbox, which is full of exercises and strategies for progressing through all five Stepping-Stones and driving home the powerful paradigm shifts contained in each. The second section, Vision Building and Goal Setting, will show you how to create your own personal wellness visiona vision of the life you want to lead. You will set goals to achieve that vision and learn how to adjust those goals to fit your unique circumstances, even as those circumstances evolve over time.

Weve organized this book in the same way that you are most likely to change and grow: by first discovering the obstacles that hold you back, then learning how to overcome them, and finally applying your new, more empowered mindset for setting exciting future goals. However, dont feel obligated to read it straight through from beginning to end. If you want to set eating and exercise goals right from the start, feel free to turn to Parts 4 and 5 (see pages ) for specific tips.